The Observation Deck

Once you’ve seen it, you’ll never be able to unsee it.

There are “Observation Decks” all over The Netherlands, but you might not be able to spot them right away. They’re not up high, they’re not in the national parks (well, maybe, but not where you’d think they might be) and I’m not sure, but I think they might be going out of style.

You’re a tough audience, I know some of what you’ve witnessed here on The Cream, so I’m just going to dig right in and get to the, ahem, meat of the matter (pun intended).

No, they’re not in the sand dunes and parks to look for deer. Not above the tulip fields or even above the beaches. They are hidden away in households across the country.

You won’t read about this Dutch treat in any guidebooks on The Netherlands.

Without any scientific research to back me up whatsoever, I can only guess that perhaps they were initiated by doctors or scientists who needed to study. Maybe there was a sickness or a ravaging contagious disease and people needed to, you know, gather specimens.

Fine, I’ll get to it. I her the whining. It’s the toilets.

The Observation Deck

Some Dutch toilets have what can only be called an “Observation Deck” built right into them. Maybe it’s an old-fashioned plumbing thing. Maybe they use less water. But when you do your business, it sits there as proud as Mt. Kilimanjaro for any passers by to admire and gawk at. Now, ideally, it doesn’t sit there long as you flush and what can only be described as a flash flood smashing into a mountain sweeps most all of it away. Usually most all of it, sometimes there are stragglers. Maybe that’s just me.

Do you need a visual? Don’t worry, this one is safe for work. See image to the right.

Any engineers out there who can help explain? Maybe a Dutch engineer? Now don’t forget, the Dutch are magicians with water (dykes, dams, windmills, a hefty section of their country is under sea level, etc.), but what is this all about?

Car Accident?

You know when you drive by a car accident and you don’t want to look but you want to look but you don’t look and then you look a little? Yeah, that feeling. It’s like that. You don’t want to look. I mean, seriously, scientifically, really, truly, why look? What are you going to see that you haven’t seen before? Why look? Sure, if you have a tapeworm (see note about doctors earlier) and you need a specimen to bring to the hospital, this is just your chance. But what about when you’re tapeworm free?

I’ll leave you with another visual just in case you have not seen one of these in real life so you get the full picture. I’ll save you, well, the business in there, and I’ll leave that to your imagination.

Do these exist in other countries? Does anyone know if it’s a water thing, a scientific thing, a laboratory thing or just a thing?